AVR - Raid Addon - EVERYONE READ

[Arianwen]

http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/avr.aspx
This addon from what I can tell will trivialize a lot of encounters and possibly help us out.

http://www.wowace.com/addons/avr/pages/faq/
FAQ:
Does everyone in my raid need to have AVR?

Anyone who wants to see any AVR markings in the world needs to have AVR installed. For the most part AVR works fine with only you having it. Even the boss encounter addons that use AVR only need AVR installed on your computer. If you wish to explain boss tactics and send your markings for others with this in mind then others need to have AVR installed or they won't see your markings.
How do I get boss encounter warnings to appear?

Get one of the boss encounter addons that supports AVR. In addition to this you also need to install AVR separately. Currently there are two boss encounter addons supporting AVR:

* AVR Encounters adds AVR warnings for various boss abilities. It does not require any other boss encounter addon to work. It is not a replacement for traditional boss encounter addons as it does not do ability timers, sound warnings etc. It can be used with any traditional boss encounter addon such as BigWigs, DBM or DXE.
* Raid Watch 2 is a full boss encounter addon much like BigWigs, DBM or DXE. It has built-in support for AVR and also does timer bars and other kinds of warnings.

Why don't the markings stay accurately on the ground?

There are some limitations to what information is available to addons. Things affecting AVR the most are lack of any information about the Z-coordinates of units (the elevation), and lack of precise camera position.

Everything is drawn as if it was on level floor at the same height as your feet. When you move up stairs, start flying, jump or move vertically in any other way you'll see the markings move with you.

Similar thing happens when the camera bumps into a wall, ceiling, floor or some other obstacle. AVR only gets information where the camera should be and draws all markings according to that. If the camera bumbs into any obstacles then it will automatically move into a different position. AVR can't detect this and so it draws markings in wrong positions.

You shouldn't expect for these things to get fixed over time. The information needed to fix them simply isn't available for addons. Naturally Blizzard could make this information available in a future patch but that seems unlikely.
How much memory/CPU time does AVR use?

AVR uses quite a bit of both memory and CPU. CPU time is the more significant of these as using a lot of memory doesn't in itself really affect game performance all that much. Also this depends very much on the complexity of currently visible markings.

One thing to note about CPU usage is that AVR uses the more CPU the higher your frame rate is. If your normal frame rate is 120 then you might very well see a significant drop, maybe upto 10 or 20 fps less. If your normal frame rate is 20 then you'll see a much smaller drop, probably not even 1 fps less.
How much network bandwidth does AVR use?

During combat, nothing at all. Only time AVR sends anything over the network is when you click the send button to share a scene with others. Even the boss encounter addons don't send any significant amount of data over the network, if they send anything at all. Sharing complex scenes may send somewhere around 10 KB of data. But since this is usually done outside combat it shouldn't have any effect on game performance.
Isn't using AVR cheating?

That's up to everyone to decide for themselves. All addons ease some aspect of the game in some way. If you think AVR somehow crosses the line between acceptable and cheating then just don't use it.
Is this against Blizzard's Terms of Service?

A common misconception is that AVR somehow edits WoW models or textures. AVR does nothing of the like. AVR also does not inject into the process or do anything else that's forbidden by the Terms of service. AVR is completely written in lua and operates only in the WoW addon environment. Of course Blizzard has the right to ban any addon they want, but until they do, AVR doesn't violate the Terms of Service or the addon development policy in any way.


http://www.wowace.com/addons/avr/pages/how-to-use/
How to use:
Getting Started

You can get to AVR menu with /avr menu command or through the normal Interface/AddOns menu. In the General options click Open scene editor. This will close the main options dialog and open a smaller editor window. Alternatively you can get to the scene editor without going through the options dialog using /avr edit slash command.

All markings in AVR are organized into scenes. To add any markings you first have to create a scene for them. Click at the drop down box at the top and select Create new. You can then give your new scene a more descriptive name just below the drop down box. If you later want to remove the scene click the Remove scene button.

All kinds of markings in AVR are collectively called meshes. Scroll down the editor dialog a bit until you come to the Add mesh part. There should be four buttons here. One adds a filled circle, one a circle with just the outline, one a raid marker and the last one starts free mouse draw. Click on one of the circles. Then place the circle in the 3d world using your mouse.

To move a mesh, simply drag it in the 3d world. Just clicking a mesh selects it so that you can change its properties in the editor window. You can change name, color, size and shape of the mesh by using the controls in the Edit mesh part of the dialog. There is also a button to remove the mesh from the scene.

The pen button starts a free mouse draw. Click the pen button, then paint on the 3d world using your mouse. Stop painting by clicking right mouse button.

The main options dialog contains all the same settings as the simple scene editor and some additional more advanced controls.
Sharing scenes

You can share your scenes with others. Select the scene you want to share. Then go to the sharing options in either the simple scene editor or the main menu. Then select a suitable sharing channel. If you selected Whisper then you also need to enter a target who the scene is sent to. Finally click the send button.

You can make changes to your scene and then send it again. This will overwrite your previously sent scene.

You can choose who you wish to receive scenes from. At the top level of the main options you'll find sharing options. Deselect the groups you do not wish to receive scenes from. The last option controls how to receive your own scenes. Receiving them can be useful so you can later check what you have sent to others. Default option is to receive your own scenes but change their status to hidden.
Importing and exporting scenes

You can also export scenes and then send them to others with email or using discussion forums or some other similar medium. In the main options menu find the scene you want to export, then under sharing buttons click the Export to clipboard button. This opens a new dialog with the scene data, copy this to your clipboard and then paste it outside game.

To import a scene first copy the scene data to your clipboard. Then open the main options menu and go to Scenes/New scene. Press the Import scene button to open the import window. Paste the contents of your clipboard there and then close the dialog. The scene should be added to your scene list.

Note that importing a scene will not overwrite previous version that scene. Instead you will have to remove the old version manually.
Range warning scene

You can add a special scene called Range warning scene. It will automatically place markers on players that are close to you. This only works for players that are in the same group or raid as you.

The range warning scene is only available in the main options, not in the simple scene editor. Go to Scenes/New scene and then select New Range warning. The scene will appear under Scenes options group. Selecting it will reveal various options including the range inside which markers on nearby players are made visible.

[Arianwen]

Myself and Ixran will be testing this addon out for this raid week. This will not be a mandatory addon as of yet, but be prepared to have it.

[Raistilin]

All i want to say is the more add-ons you require you may start to see a drop in dps. A CPU and memory can only take so much before it starts to slow down and that will be more video and computer lag people will get. You have to remember that not all people have the same computer and this could be bad for us in a time crunched fight.

[Arianwen]

Dont forget it also removes some other addons. As said its still being tested by myself and Ix. We'll post our results after the week.

[Liquid Brad]

I do agree this addon will help I was going to suggest it but seems I did not need to

[Arianwen]

I actually like how this addon works (After I got it working as I was fucking around with it ). It shows a lot of valuable information, the circles on the ground help with uptime and the new DBM timers are just as customizable as DBM and look better. IMO everyone should get this.

I know Raist was talking about this causing more lag than DBM... It lowered my FPS from 33 in raid to 32. Its a very minimal difference.

[Joygasm]

AVR will be broken by Blizzard in the upcoming 3.3.5 patch. Their reasons are any mod that alters the game world and can be shared can be exploited by gold farmers, and other people who would wish to use it in any other way. Also, they claim that this mod makes raids "too easy" (I know, I laughed my ass off at this one too, being that they're making the raids easier every day).

Just a little tidbit of information for you.

~J

P.S. Link is here.

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